Last season: Crest (12-4) reached the 3AA title game at UNC’s Kenan Stadium before falling to Northern Guilford; Then-unbeaten South Point (10-1) was upset by Weddington last season in the first round.

Football Tradition: Crest has won four NCHSAA championships (1994, ’96, 2003-04) and has made the 3AA final round the past two seasons. Crest has reached the postseason 25 times since 1980 and currently has a string of 20 consecutive first-round playoff victories; South Point has captured six straight league crowns and 12 in the past 14 seasons … the Red Raiders bagged state championships in 1979, 2003 and 2009.

Key wins: Crest — Burns, Shelby; South Point — Burns, Crest

Key players: Crest has two Shrine Bowl picks on its defense with defensive end Dane Rogers II (Clemson commit) and linebacker Quinton Patterson (N.C. State) leading the way. The Charger secondary is sparked by Dominique Roseboro.

Last season: Crest (12-4) reached the 3AA title game at UNC’s Kenan Stadium before falling to Northern Guilford; Then-unbeaten South Point (10-1) was upset by Weddington last season in the first round.

Football Tradition: Crest has won four NCHSAA championships (1994, ’96, 2003-04) and has made the 3AA final round the past two seasons. Crest has reached the postseason 25 times since 1980 and currently has a string of 20 consecutive first-round playoff victories; South Point has captured six straight league crowns and 12 in the past 14 seasons … the Red Raiders bagged state championships in 1979, 2003 and 2009.

Key wins: Crest — Burns, Shelby; South Point — Burns, Crest

Key players: Crest has two Shrine Bowl picks on its defense with defensive end Dane Rogers II (Clemson commit) and linebacker Quinton Patterson (N.C. State) leading the way. The Charger secondary is sparked by Dominique Roseboro.

Offensively, Jalin Moore has emerged as a top running threat for the Chargers, surpassing the 100-yard mark. P.J. Brooks has also evolved as a two-way threat at quarterback.

Kicking specialist Alex Trejo is also a field-position weapon for Crest.

South Point’s ‘red-bone’ option attack continues to yield big point totals for the Red Raiders. Fullback Tyler Bray has topped the 100-yard mark in 10 of 11 games this season. Sophomore quarterback Jaquan Brooks has added 929 more on the ground to go with 596 passing. Devan Robbins gives the Raiders another rushing threat with more than 50 yards per game.

Notable: South Point has won the last six meetings in this series and has a 20-10 overall edge…Crest has been represented at the Shrine Bowl eight of the last nine years…This is only the second postseason meeting between the schools -- South Point took a 20-7 first-round decision in 1973 when the pair belonged to the former WNCHSAA.

What Crest coach Mark Barnes had to say:

“We’re facing an opponent we’ve got a lot of experience with in our league. I don’t think either team’s going to come in with a lot of new plays to run, we just have to do what we do. When we played them before there were things we did and didn’t like, and we’ve got to take care of those.

“To play their offense, you have to be extremely disciplined. They do a good job executing their offense and because we see so many spread offenses, and so much of it today is about running to the ball, it’s a lot different to have to play assignment football. Teams used to play better against it (the option) when they saw it more often.

“But I think maybe the most important thing is going to be our offense against their defense. When you play a team like they are, you have to get first downs and keep the ball, and you have to score points. You have to get them off the field, then you can’t give them extra possessions.

“Special teams are one third of the game. They had a big punt return against us the first game. We came out and did a much better job in our kick coverage against Ashbrook. In an old-fashioned game where field position is so important, you can’t have mistakes like that. You need to back them up and make them go the distance and not have a short field too many times.

“I thought against Ashbrook, we were able to play the run with only three people (up front) and that was a big plus for us. Dane (Rogers II), Dominique Dawkins, Josh Ross and Omar Brooks did a really good job for us up there. Our defensive backs and linebackers also did well for us in pass coverage.”